Underwater vehicle with bottomregulated diving control



Feb, 18, 1958 J. HAGEMANN 2,523,535

UNDERWATER VEHICLE WITH BOTTOM-REGULATED DIVING CONTROL Filed March 2,1954 INVENTOR Jull'us- Hagemann 2,823,635 Patented Feb. 18, 1958UNDERWATER VEHICLE WITH BOTTOM- REGULATED DIVING CONTROL JuliusHagemann, Panama City, Fla., assignor to the United States of America asrepresented by the Secretary of the Navy Application March 2, 1954,Serial No. 413,733

1 Claim. (Cl. 114-16) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec.266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by orfor the Government of the United States of America for governmentalpurposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

The present invention relates to a submarine vehicle adapted when movingthrough a seaway to seek and maintain itself at a pre-selected constantdistance above the waterbedand, more particularly to such a vehiclehaving tactile means which cooperate with thewaterbed to control theadjustment of depth regulating means carried by the vehicle.

It is frequently desirable to transport instruments and otherexploration means above the ocean floor for various purposes such as,for example, locating or detecting objects thereon. In order to obtainaccurate and optimum results it is required that the instrumentation bealways separated from the ocean floor by the distance for which theinstruments have been designed to function. Accordingly, the primaryobject of the present invention is the provision of a free floatingsubmarine vehicle which will maintain itself at a fixed distance abovethe fioor of a seaway through which it is moving.

Other objects of the invention, as well as the invention itself, will bebetter understood by referring to the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows a submarine vehicle and its attendant control mechanismbeing towed through a seaway;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing structural detail of the controlmechanism;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing an alternative control mechanism.

In accordance with the invention a submarine vehicle adapted to move(self-propelled or towed) through a seaway is provided with divingrudders biased to diving position but movable against the bias under thecontrol of a depending tactile means which contacts the waterbedwhenever the vehicle reaches the desired depth, or, more accurately, thedesired separation from the waterbed, the arrangement being such that aslong as the vehicle is moving through the water its diving rudders areregulated to maintain the vehicle at all times at substantially aconstant distance above the waterbed.

In accordance with the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs.1 to 3, a submarine vehicle having a generally streamlined contour andprovided with tail fins 11 is being towed through a seaway by a surfacevessel 12 through a towing cable 13. To facilitate streaming andrecovery the vehicle 10 is so constructed that it together with itsinstrument load and its control mechanism is slightly buoyant so as tofloat horizontally on top of the water when not in motion. As best seenin Figs. 2 and 3, the vehicle 10 is provided with two diving rudders 14carried by a rotatable shaft 15 journaled in two depending plates 16suitably secured to the body of the vehicle 10 as by welding. Secured tothe shaft 15 between the plates 16 is a crank 17, the outer end of whichis coupled to a control stick 18 through a rod 19. The control stick 18constitutes the depending tactile means mentioned above and as hereshown includes a tubular portion 21, articulated on a pin 22 carried ina mounting assembly 23 rigidly secured to the front nose of the vehicle10. Suitably mounted in the free end of the tube 21 is a relatively longfeeler member 24 having suflicient elasticity to prevent harshness inits control action. Tapered steel or glass rods similar to those used infishing gear provide adequate elasticity for the feeler member 24. Aspring 25 anchored to the forwardly extending mounting assembly 23 andsecured to the control stick 1%; biases the stick 18 and therefore thediving rudder 14 to the position shown in Fig. 2, there being a stopmember in the form of a bar 26 mounted in the plates 16 in the path ofthe crank 17. The spring 25 has sutlicient strength to hold the controlmechanism in this position against the drag of the water when under towbut is yieldable when the feeler portion 24 of the control stick 18makes substantial contact with the waterbed, as indicated in Fig. 1, tomove the diving rudder 14 to a more horizontal position and, indeed,under some circumstances such as encountering a sudden rise in thewaterbed will move the rudder 14 to provide a positive angle of attack,thereby assuring a sufiiciently rapid rise to maintain the desiredseparation from the bottom for all but the most abrupt changes inelevation.

When first streamed overboard the vehicle 10 floats on the surface withits control mechanism in the position shown in Fig. 2. When the vehicle10 is towed through the water its buoyancy will be overcome by thedynamic force exerted by the water upon the rudders 14 which are indiving position. The vehicle 10 will continue to dive until the feelerrod 24 contacts the waterbed at which time the bias of the spring 25 isovercome to move the rudders 14 to a less negative angle of attack, thegreater the towing speed the smaller this angle of attack will be forthe reason that the downward component of the dynamic force exerted onthe rudders 14 increases with speed. After a few oscillations, thevehicle settles on a course of constant height over the bottom. Thefeeler rod 24, slightly bent, tracks along the bottom, its elastic forcebeing in equilibrium with the hydrodynamic force exerted by the water onthe diving rudders 14.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 4 a streamlinedvehicle 30 is shown under tow through the cable 13 at a distance abovethe ocean floor determined by a control mechanism similar in function tothat described above but differing therefrom in that it comprises aseparable unit which can be readily secured to any underwater vehiclewhich has been fitted with a suitable attachment such as a keel plate31.

Again, as described above, a rigid tubular ection 32 of the feeler rodis pivotally mounted on a pin 33 carried by the keel plate 31 forarcuate movement in the vertical plane defined by the longitudinal axisof the vehicle 38 between the limits established by the relaxed positionof a biasing spring 34 and by a stop member 35 depending from the plate31 into the path of a bracket 36 secured to the tubular member 32. Asshown in full line in Fig. 4, the rod 32 occupies the limiting angle ina counterclockwise direction, the limit position in a clockwisedirection being indicated in broken lines. To the lower end of the rigidtubular section 32 is secured a flexible rod 37, the inherent elasticityof which tends to render its control action smoother than wouldotherwise be the case. Pivotally secured to the lower portion of therigid section 32 are a pair of diving rudders 38 whose angle of attackvaries with the angular position of the control rod 32, the arrangementbeing that when the feeler rod 37 is not in contact with the ocean floorthese rudders 38 have a strong negative angle of attack as indicated inbroken lines, whereby the vehicle, when movedfthrough water, dives untilthe feeler rod 37 contacts the ocean floor. The angle of attack of therudders 38v is determined by a push-pull wire 39 secured at one end tothe attachment plate 31 at some distance aft of the pin 33, about whichthe rod 32 is pivoted, and at its other end to the diving rudders at apoint behind the axis 40 about which the rudders 38 oscillate. It willbe apparent that as the rod 32 moves counterclockwise the rudders 38will be forced to move clockwise about their axis so that their divingaction is reduced when the feeler rod 37 .touches the bottom at whichtime the wire 39 decreases the negative angle of attack of the rudders38 until an equilibrium develops between the hydrodynamic action of therudders 38 and the elastic force on the feeler rod37. It is to be notedthat in its limit position as shown in Fig. 4, the rudders 38,stillpresent a small negative angle of attack, but even so the vehicle 30will rise because of the vertical component of the towing force exertedthrough the cable 13.

The bracket 36, in addition to serving as a means for limiting the angleof movement of the control rod 32 in the counterclockwise direction,comprises a support for a sheath 41 surrounding the push-pull wire 39. Asimilar bracket clamp 42 holds the sheath 41 near its lower end in fixedrelation to the tubular rod 32.

To reduce resistance to movement through the water all parts of thecontrol mechanism are preferably suitably faired and in the embodimentshown in Fig. 4 the control wire 39 and its sheath 41 have the majorportion of their length enclosed within the tubular control rod 32 forthis purpose. 7

While for the purpose of disclosing the invention two specificembodiments thereof have been described in detail, it will of course beobvious to those skilled in the art that the invention can beincorporated in many other structures without departing from the scopeof the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A buoyant submarinevehicle adapted to ride through a seaway at adistance above the waterbed as regulated by diving fins movable underthe controlof a depending tactile means in contact with the waterbedcharacterized by the tactile means having a rigid proximal portion uponwhich the diving fins are pivotally mounted and having its distalportion elastically flexible under bending stress.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,358,360 Burney Nov. 9, 1920 1,779,168 Isom Oct. 21, 1930 1,908,408 CoxMay 9, 1933 2,542,347 Muller Feb. 20, 1951

